Four years ago, Manchester United began the season with a swagger that suggested silverware was finally within reach again. A 5-1 demolition of Leeds on the opening weekend, powered by four assists from Paul Pogba, sparked genuine belief that Ole Gunnar Solskjær's side could mount the club's first serious title challenge since Alex Ferguson departed the dugout.
That afternoon, Jadon Sancho watched from the bench, freshly arrived in a £74m deal that was billed as a homecoming for the England winger. United's announcement declared "this is his home, this is where he belongs." Paired with Bruno Fernandes and the in-form Pogba, plus a forward line featuring Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood, the pieces appeared to be falling into place even before Cristiano Ronaldo's sentimental return later that summer.
Looking back now, the trajectory of that squad reads as a warning for Michael Carrick or anyone else tasked with rebuilding United's attacking core. Pogba and Sancho, once the poster names of that ambitious project, are both currently without a club.
Sancho's United career fizzled out largely unnoticed. Now 26, he was let go this summer once his contract expired, having made little impact across his final three seasons, during which he was farmed out on loan to Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Aston Villa. Solskjær later disclosed that an ear infection had hospitalised Sancho soon after his move to Old Trafford, hampering his early adaptation. "He was the best option that we had," Solskjær said. "We wanted to take the next step, to change the style, [to] add in the last-third players that could break teams down. Jadon's skill, link-up play, he offered something different."
Pogba's path since leaving United in 2022 has been even more turbulent. He returned to Juventus, only for injuries and a doping suspension to limit him to just 12 appearances before the Italian club terminated his contract. After his four-year ban was cut to 18 months on appeal, Pogba said his "nightmare was over" and signed for Monaco this year, but he made only six appearances before again becoming a free agent at 33.
Others from that same attacking group have similarly drifted. Rashford's return to Manchester this summer followed loan spells at Villa and Barcelona sanctioned by the club. Greenwood last played for United in the 2021-22 campaign before being suspended following an arrest on suspicion of rape; prosecutors dropped the case in February 2023, and he was eventually sold to Marseille in 2024 after a loan at Getafe, before moving to Fenerbahce this summer. Martial, unable to dislodge Ronaldo or Edinson Cavani, never rediscovered his best form and is now a free agent following a stint at Mexican side Monterrey. Donny van de Beek, signed for £35m in 2020, was sold for a mere £423,000 last year and is now attempting to rebuild his career at Girona.
Fernandes stands out as the lone survivor from that 2021 attacking unit still thriving at Old Trafford.
The collapse of that project reflects a period of muddled recruitment under former executive Ed Woodward, when United spent a combined £163m on Pogba and Sancho alone as part of a broader strategy geared toward marketing power rather than tactical need. Solskjær, working alongside Carrick and Kieran McKenna at the time, had tried to shift United away from a counterattacking identity toward a more dominant, possession-based approach, but heavy defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool undermined dressing-room confidence early on.
"We needed to be Man United," Solskjær said on the Stick to Football podcast in 2024. "Don't defend, don't be counterattacking, go toe-to-toe with them – because if not, there's no point being at Man United. We weren't ready. Just not good enough."
As Carrick now considers how to reshape United's identity and close the gap to the league's top sides, the scattered fortunes of that 2021 attacking cast serve as a sobering reminder of how quickly promise can unravel.
Based on reporting from The Guardian.